He is the most recognisable character in video game history (Guinness Book of World Records said so) and now the yellow pellet muncher is heading into battle in Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

He will square off against Nintendo legends like Mario, Link and Donkey Kong as well as Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog and Capcom’s Mega Man. Since his debut in 1980, there has been a lot written about him – but here are 11 things you may not have known.

1. Pac-Man was initially released as Puck-Man

As highlighted by Scott Pilgrim in the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Pac-Man was originally going to called Puck-Man based on the Japanese term ‘paku-paku’ which means the sound of mouth movement when opened and closed in quick succession.

However the name was changed as there was a fear that Westerners might deface the word ‘Puck’ to make it something rude.

2. Pac-Man can be beaten

You can beat a standard coin-operated arcade Pac-Man by achieving the ‘perfect game’. This means beating all 255 levels, eating every possible dot, power pellet, fruit and enemy without losing a single life and getting to the ‘kill screen’ – which will give you a score of 3,333,360. The first person to achieve this was legendary gamer Billy Mitchell in 1999. It took him around six hours.

That time-record was beaten by David Race in 2009 when he achieved the perfect game in 3 hours, 41 minutes and 22 seconds.

3. The ghosts have names

In Japan, the ghosts (or monsters as they were originally called) were named Fickle, Chaser, Ambusher and Stupid. They are now most commonly known as Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde. Clyde had a speaking cameo in the Disney movie Wreck-It Ralph while the others can be seen in the Game Central Station.

4. Pac-Man features in Mario Kart

Although he will be crossing over with Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man for the first time in Super Smash Bros., this is not the first time Pac-Man and Mario have crossed paths. In 2005, the Namco produced Mario Kart Arcade GP not only saw Pac-Man as a playable character, but also Ms. Pac-Man and Blinky.

5. The game was designed for women

At the time of its development, arcade games were played predominately by men. In an effort to attract women to play their game, Namco gave Pac-Man bright blue and gold colours, thinking that this would make them play the game more.

Pac-Man’s sequel, Ms. Pac-Man, was interestingly not made for the same reasons.

6. Each of the ghosts have specific actions

If you thought that the ghosts moved in random orders, you would be wrong. Blikey and Pinky are the most predictable as they will go for the direct route to catch you, Inky will attempt ambush tactics while Clyde’s behaviour is completely random, making him impossible to predict.

7. Pac-Man was designed by just three people

Nowadays there are hundreds upon hundreds of people working on video games, but back in 1979, there were just three people working on Pac-Man. Tōru Iwatani headed up the production, one person worked on the graphics and one person on the music.

8. The pellets are called ‘Cookies’

They are most commonly referred to now as ‘pellets’ now, but they were originally called ‘cookies’ and the powerful ones you eat to chase the ghosts were called ‘super cookies’.

9. It’s the most successful coin-operated game of all-time

As verified by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2008, Pac-Man is the most successful coin-operated arcade game in history. Video game scoring body Twin Galaxies estimated that at the turn of the 21st Century over $10 billion quarters had been put into Pac-Man arcade machines since its release in 1980.

10. He was instrumental in the infamous video game crash of 1983

Between 1983 and 1985, video game sales dropped by 97% from $3.2 billion to $100 million. One of the contributing factors to this (along with an over-saturated market) was E.T: The Extra Terrestrial and the port of Pac-Man for the Atari 2600. The Pac-Man port was criticised for having flickering ghosts due to the Atari’s limited memory space and showing little resemblance to the original arcade game. Games like these caused gamers to question the quality and stopped buying them.

It wasn’t until Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985 that the market picked back up.

11. He has a cameo in Disney’s Tron

Wreck-It Ralph was not the first time Pac-Man has been in a Disney movie – here he is in the 1982 classic Tron.

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